New to product: Explore the role · Core
Find the kind of PM role that suits you
The job changes a lot with the kind of product and the kind of organisation. Knowing the main variations helps you choose where to aim and what to learn first.
About 2-4 hoursEvergreenLast reviewed 9 November 2026
Who this applies to
- Skills it builds
- Strategy and visionCommercial and business sense
- PM types
- All
- Product types
- All
- Starting points
- Exploring product management
- Ways of working
- All
- Experience
- Beginner (under 1 year)
- Size of organisation
- All
Steps
- List the main kinds of PM role: general, growth, AI, data, technical, platform, transformation and hardware. Write one sentence on each. The add-on blocks in the Library show what each kind adds.
- Compare kinds of organisation: a small start-up (wide scope, fast, few specialists), a scaling company (building its first processes), a large enterprise (specialist roles, governance and dependencies) and a public service (standards, accessibility and user needs).
- Read how a PM describes the job at a start-up and how another describes it at a large company. Note the differences in scope, pace and process.
- Match what you have found against your background and interests. Ask which kind of product you would still be curious about at five on a Friday.
- Pick one or two kinds of role and one kind of organisation as a working hypothesis. Write why.
- For your chosen kind, list what a PM there needs that a general PM does not, such as data and evaluation for AI products or internal customers for platforms. Keep the list for later.
Tool examples
- Notion
- Keep a comparison table of roles and organisations with a column for what would be hardest for you.
Definition of done
- One or two kinds of PM role chosen, with reasons
- One kind of organisation chosen as a hypothesis
Common pitfalls
- Choosing on hype, such as whatever is trending
- Ruling out whole kinds of organisation without talking to anyone who works there